Joel Pineiro Los Angeles Angels (4/10/2005)
What’s your pitching philosophy, what got you so far?
I guess it’s just my aggressiveness. I’m a guy who gets out there and I don’t like to give any walks, I like them to earn their way on the base. So I go out there and be aggressive, and make him hit it. One of those things that I guess you learn when you’re young is try not to nibble and try to throw the perfect pitch, just go out there and try to be aggressive and have good stuff.
What are your strengths right now as a pitcher?
I think it’s my curve ball. That pitch has been working for me as a young guy. As I said I’m only 26, and the curve ball’s been great. I’ve got a good fast ball, it’s not a great fast ball, but I’m able to spot it and I throw inside. That’s a big thing, if you throw inside you don’t let the guys feel comfortable.
What’s your out pitch right now?
It would be the curve ball right now. That is one of the most dominant pitches that I think I have and I can throw it at any time in the count and when I know I’ve got to bury it and throw it in the ground to try to get the guy to chase it, I’ll throw it.
Do you pitch to your strengths or a batter’s weakness?
Both, a little bit of both. You go over a game chart over the guy’s weaknesses and strengths, what he likes and what he doesn’t like. I think that helps out a lot. You know what his tendencies are, when he likes to swing the bat or what he looks for if he’s behind or ahead in the count. I think that helps out a lot. So obviously if that pitch that you think will get him out not working for you that day, you’ve got to find something else. So it’s a little bit of both.
Do you approach hitters individually or do you approach them with one basic style?
No, individually like I said, some guys sit on a change up all the time and just wait for that pitch. Some guys’ just swing at the first pitch in the count so you’ve got to have a scouting report on each guy and go work on them with that.
In professional baseball everybody has to have talent, but you see first rounders or top round picks that are said to have all the talent in the world after a couple of years get passed by guys with lesser talent. Why is that?
I don’t know, I think it’s just maybe when you get a young guy and you get a couple of million, now I haven’t seen it happen to everybody but it happens a lot of times, you’ve got a young guy coming out of high school or college and you give him a couple of million dollars early and maybe they get a big head and they think they’re better than the game. It hurts them I think sometimes. Then you’ve got a younger guy he’s maybe 10th, 12th, 20th, 25th rounder, he knows he has to work a little harder and try to give a little extra and then maybe that helps him to progress in the minor league career.
Do you think those top round draft picks get more chances?
Yeah, I think they do early, especially early, obviously they want to give them the chance. The first rounders they want to see everything they got, so you’re kind of always in the back, creeping up, creeping up, oh yeah he’s a good pitcher, he’s a good pitcher, and you creep up, and I think that’s what happened to me. I had Ryan Anderson and Gil Meche both first round picks but we all put it together. We had a good chemistry between each other, we never got to saying “No I’m better than you,” or “you’re better than me.” I think it helped me being a 12th rounder seeing Gil Meche and Ryan Anderson being first rounders and I said “I want to be like those guys, I want them to think about me,” and I used to think about them. So maybe it did help me, I try to use their strength to my strengths too.
Every organization drafts more guys, trades for more pitchers that compete for your spot. How do you approach that in spring training?
Well I think it’s harder for a younger guy when they’re trying to entrust people and make the ball club out of spring training. That’s when you’ve got a veteran guy that’s been here three or four or five years, if he gives up four or five runs, a couple of outings in a row, nothing’s going to happen to him ’cause he’ll be a starter. So I think you can’t put too much stress on yourself as a youngster trying to impress the coaches and the manager or the pitching coach. You’ve just got to use whatever got you to that point. If your thinking about making it to the big leagues use it as your strength and stick with what got you there. That’s the number one thing.
Was there a time in your career you wanted to quit baseball?
When I can’t pick up my arm anymore. That’s the way I look at it, if I can’t pick up my arm that means I’m done.
Was there any time in the minor leagues?
No, never. I mean the minor leagues are always a battle. When you struggle I think that’s the best time for you to learn something, to go out there and try to improve. Try to help yourself out and find what you haven’t done that’s got you struggling a little bit. So I think you learn more from bad games than from good games.
Do you read the sports reports and scouting reports about you, like Baseball America?
No, I mean you’re always going to see it obviously, they throw the booklets in the clubhouse and everybody’s reading and seeing it, but you try not to pay any attention to any other media, the press, or whatever it is. Try to stay humble and be yourself and just try to have a good attitude about going out there and pitching or fielding or hitting, whatever you are. But if you worry about too much, like, “Oh I’m a top pick” or “I’m a number one prospect, I don’t need to work that hard,” I think that hurts.
Does the chemistry in the clubhouse affect the team?
Yeah, I think so, I mean if you’ve got guys out there not that are joking around but are real loose and having fun and relaxed, I think it’ll help while you’re on the field. Once you get a team that’s maybe kind of real strict and you’ve got guys that are quiet, no music, no nothing, it makes you a little tense to go out there on the field. If you’re relaxed and you have fun I think it helps out.
What’s something about pro sports you learned the hard way that nobody told you about when you first started?
Just how fast that things are up there. You get in the minor leagues things are a little slower, you get not that good of hitters and the fans and everything, but once you get up to that next level everything goes so fast. You’ve got to learn how to just take a step back. Just talk to a veteran guy that’s been out there for a long time, or whoever it is, or your coaches or managers, ’cause things do get a lot quicker and faster out there, so you’ve just got to make sure you take a step back and work with your rhythm.
How do you handle the fans, people yelling and screaming, and the loudmouths?
Obviously you’re going to hear a couple of fans every stadium you go to especially on the road that are going to yell “You suck” or “You’re no good.” You’ll always hear those ones but you’ve got to ignore that. That’s why they’re there. They’re there to cheer you or to throw beer on you. So it’s all fun like I said, you just got to learn how to cope with it.
How do you handle the umpires?
It’s tough especially as a young guy when you’re coming up. Obviously the strike is my strength and once you prove to them that you can throw strikes and be aggressive they’re going to work with you too.
What about knockdowns, brush-backs and retaliation?
It’s weird, like I said you’ve always got to definitely pitch inside. You can’t let those hitters get comfortable and if you have to throw a pitch in. I’m not saying throw at their head but you’ve just got to let them know “That’s my plate, I’m working with that and you’re not going to get comfortable.” Sometimes it sucks ’cause you throw a curve ball and it hits them in the head or upper side of the body and they think you’re doing it on purpose, especially a curve ball. I think if you’re going to hit him though you’re going to make it hurt and throw a fastball. I think you’ve got to go with however the game’s going. If you always get a couple of guys getting hit then the other team retaliates. You’ve got to learn how to determine this is true, this is not true, they meant to do this, they didn’t mean to do that. But just so long as you throw inside effectively you should be okay.
The batters know when you’re going to throw inside.
They know when to expect it or not, so they know when it’s intentional or not.
Do you have any thoughts on being traded?
No. I mean not really, that’s not for me. The front office and the general managers and all them worry about that. My job is to go out there and pitch and to do my job and to stay up in the big leagues. If they trade me and they think I’m not going to help them out anymore, I’ll go help out another team, but I’ll just do the same.
What would you tell somebody in high school on down about professional baseball?
Take care of the arm it’s the number one thing. Don’t blow out early. Obviously you’ve got all those scouts, if you’re in high school you see 20, 25 scouts back there you want to throw harder or be better. You should go out there and be yourself ’cause you’ve got to save your arm.